“What this is doing is perverting the whole meaning of freedom of speech and education,” Donohue said. “There is no legitimate role for hardcore pornography to be shown in the New York Public Library.”

Public Library officials said by law they are obligated to install filters to block illegal content like child pornography. And they said they do, but not other pornography that is legal.

And that left some folks Rapoport spoke to a little upset.

“I think it’s horrific as a parent. There are children in this place constantly. It’s a place of learning. You shouldn’t be allowed to do that in here,” library patron Malcolm Adams said.

Officials from the New York Public Library stressed their computers all have filtering software to block any explicit material from minors, and they said that staff carefully monitor use of computers in the adult areas.

What would you do if you saw someone watching hardcore pornography at the library? Sound off in our comments section.